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Acid heads
'Acid' became the colloquial term for lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in the 1960s, and since then, those who take acid on a regular basis have been known as 'acid heads'.
Although acid has been taken for centuries in one form or another (the unleavened bread that was a staple in biblical times was frequently contaminated with the ergot fungus, which contains the source chemicals for LSD), it was not until the publication of The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley in 1954 that psychedelic drugs made a significant impact on Western culture.
Acid heads responded to Timothy Leary's call to 'turn on, tune in, drop out', and they are generally seen as a hippy phenomenon. For acid heads, the point of taking a trip was not simply to have a good time, but to have a transcendental experience — to expand the mind and promote creativity, sometimes through a temporary state that resembled madness.
Acid heads were central to the 1960s counterculture, but their importance declined in the late 1970s. Punks preferred alcohol and amphetamines to cannabis and acid, which were seen as wimpish, peacenik drugs. And the 1980s' Acid House scene was dominated by the drug ecstasy rather than acid.
Find out more …
The CIA, LSD, and the Sixties Rebellion
www.levity.com/aciddreams/tripguide.html
All you need to know about psychedelia, conspiracy theories and 1960s' experimenters.
The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe (Black Swan, 1989) £7.99.
You’re either on the bus or off it. Tom Wolfe was there with Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. The bible of acid culture.
Psychedelic Decadence by Martin Jones (Headpress, 2001) £12.99.
Illustrated essays on popular British culture of the 1960s and '70s — from hippies to nonconformists, youth movements to pop stars.
Branch Davidians (Waco)
The Branch Davidians were one of a series of doomsday cults that came to prominence at the end of the 20th century as the year 2000 approached. They were, in fact, an offshoot of the Davidian Seventh Day Adventist church that had existed in Waco since the 1930s and had at one time had more than 1,400 members. The group, believing that the return of Christ was imminent, chose to lead a pure life in anticipation of the Second Coming.
In 1986, Vernon Howell became the head of the cult. He took the name 'David Koresh', signalling his spiritual connection to King David, took several wives and announced his intention to father a line of children who would one day rule the world.
Several of Koresh's wives were teenagers, which led to accusations of paedophilia. When Koresh launched a retail gun business, the authorities became concerned about the group and, in 1993, staged an ill-managed raid on their compound. Four agents were killed. Two months later, the FBI raided the compound again, firing flammable material into buildings. The complex burned to the ground and 74 members of the cult — men (including Koresh), women and children — died.
Anti-government groups were outraged by the handling of the incident. The Oklahoma bomber, Timothy McVeigh (executed in June 2001), said that his actions were, in part, a retaliation for Waco.
Find out more …
Seven Seals Revelation Library
www.branchdavidian.com/
Official site of the Waco survivors.
Armageddon in Waco: Critical perspectives on the Branch Davidian conflict, edited by Stuart A Wright (University of Chicago Press, 1995) £11.
Whatever you think of the cult, 74 people were killed at Waco. Wright analyses all aspects of the tragedy.